Paula Radcliffe has joined 12,500 people running in the first public event staged in the Olympic Stadium since London 2012.
People had to enter a ballot to take part in the five-mile (8,047m) National Lottery Anniversary Run around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendleton is also taking part while fellow cyclist Sir Chris Hoy was the official starter of the race.
There are about 30,000 spectators.
'Good to be back'The route crosses the Olympic site's wetlands and loops around the Velodrome.
Sir Chris said: "It is a huge honour to start it and it gives me a great excuse not to show everybody my lack of running ability in front of thousands of people."
Great Britain runner Chris Clark tweeted: "Feels good to be back in the Olympic Stadium. Running for the fifth time."
Ms Pendleton was delighted with her time of 36.43 and the race in general.
She said: "It was good. I tried to pace it quite slowly but to get under 40 minutes was really good.
"It's hard to get into your stride because you're having to sidestep people."
Among the runners was Adrian Rose, 26, who proposed to his girlfriend Anne Codling, 28, when she crossed the finishing line.
Mr Rose, from Redcar in Cleveland, said: "I'm just thankful she said yes.
"What better way to do it than in the Olympic Stadium a year after we came here to watch 'Super Saturday'?"
A 1.5 mile (2,414m) family fun run brought the number of total participants to about 15,000.
The event was organised to celebrate the financial contribution made by the Lottery, which contributed £2.2 billion towards the funding of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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